A beauty contest?Maybe the discussion should move to the obvious issue of overt sexist exploitation.It's interesting to note that demographically the "Japanese" people are slowly going extinct by their own devices.

I was going to mention their purist asses are going extinct, but ehhhhhh.....

I am tired of this analogy of Asians "wanting to be white and hating their appearance". That's not true. Nobody goes around saying that whites want to be black when they tan their skin or bleach their hair black. This is stupid.

The anime debate is also stupid (about anime looking like whites and not Asians...it is cartoons! ). So stop with that too.

As for the girl, this is not the first time it happens and I don't see why she shouldn't represent Japan, she was born in Japan after all. The contestant for USA was born in USA but her parents were born in Germany and Iran while her grandfather was Mexican and nobody complained. All that matters to me is if she was born in Japan and she was so she is Japanese and a good candidate to represent her country.

I think Japan is just like America. There are people who are idiots, and there are people who don't care about unimportant crap like race. Like here in America. People still have a problem with a white person, and black person getting together. That's just one example, there are others. Same goes for SOME people in Japan. Same goes for SOME people in other countries around the world!

There are people who can accept others, and some who can't. The point is, bigotry is everywhere.

You should be defined by what you ARE not what you look like. Just because you're half it doesn't mean you're not whole. You're both whole and half at the same time, sorry for those who don't get what i'm saying, too metaphoric? xD Anyway I'm not surprised she's getting criticism, let's just hope that fades away. People need to learn how to accept others even if they're not of them. I believe everyone is everyone, sadly, many people do not see it that way.

Under the criteria that some of you have made, then who would be more suited to be Miss America?

Lindsay Lohan.

Under the criteria that some others have made, they would argue that Lindsay Lohan is not American enough... That's the point of my comment. Who is American enough to be Miss America? Who is Japanese enough to be Miss Japan? Being born and raised in the country, and living and breathing its culture is not enough? Or is it enough?

Who decides who is or who is not Japanese or American, or Russian enough?

Under the criteria that some of you have made, then who would be more suited to be Miss America?

Lindsay Lohan.

Under the criteria that some others have made, they would argue that Lindsay Lohan is not American enough... That's the point of my comment. Who is American enough to be Miss America? Who is Japanese enough to be Miss Japan? Being born and raised in the country, and living and breathing its culture is not enough? Or is it enough?

Who decides who is or who is not Japanese or American, or Russian enough?

I agree! People focus too much on looks. What is too little or too much of something? That's why humans cannot judge other humans. There is no argument. I don't even care if an Irish woman represented Miss America, we're all foreigners and the same at some point.

Under the criteria that some of you have made, then who would be more suited to be Miss America? Are you sure your choice is American enough?

very interesting perspective, i agree. this is because we have so many ethnicities and background, and they are all Americans, i'm interested to see what people will actually say if a Chinese american or native american won the Miss America pageant, will there be a backlash like this?

P.S I'm personally against all the country and world pageants, i think they are ridiculous and should end. You can watch the John Oliver clip on it on YouTube or research it.

Although there are cases in which Asians wish to be Whites, there are also so many cases of Whites wanting to be Asian. I don't consider this to be a trend. I consider it to be an abnormality. There are simply more cases of Asians, I theorize, because there are more Asians in the world than Whites. Asians are much more numerous in the world.

In the US, it seems from my experiences that Asians who wish to be White (or even Black) tend to want to do so not because they hate their own background but because they think it would be cool to fit in. This desire to fit in seems to be confused for self-loathing when self-loathing is, in fact, not the root of the cause but a mere symptom. I can't speak for Whites wanting to be Asian since I do not have as much experience with them but it also seems like they want to do so because they consider the Asian culture they put on a pedestal to be cooler than their own. Culture-envy of sorts, basically, not self-hate.

As long as she has a Japanese heritage, I do not see a problem with her being elected Miss Universe Japan.

That being said, I also do not like the idea of a Miss Any Country. It's simply a beauty contest made more complicated by an additional obvious focus on race. Such a contest seems tired, archaic, and primitive. It is out of place in today's society and I don't fully understand why it is still going on.

It is true that a lot of people do not wish to look what they naturally look like so they try to change it, of course, but you are forgetting to NOT include EVERYONE or a WHOLE group of a particular ethnicity--some do it, not all, don't do the "if one does it then all do it" rule. And yes not just white or Asians change their skin tone, there's some in every ethnicity that do it. Hey! Some white people get tans, some black people bleach--don't claim one does it and not the other, because everyone has problems regardless of their color. Why can't everyone just leave their skin tone alone? Good God.

But the anime thing is what I disagree with the most. To be honest, anime characters don't look like ANY ethnicity from this planet (there are some anime characters that do look realistic though); therefore, they don't specify with "looks" rather, their "being". What does a real Caucasian look like? What does a real Japanese look like? What does a real African look like? Nothing but anything! They are NOT SUPPOSE to look like any specific look. It's more of what you are, not what you look like. It's what you feel, not what you LOOK LIKE!

For example, let's say that some African-Americans made an animation where they illustrate themselves as Japanese. Sure it may look like the characters have no African features, but you're not getting the point, it's how they ACT that makes them what they are--so the characters--whether they look like it or not--are African-American or whatever their culture depicts. And I'm not saying necessarily that each ethnicity has a certain way, it's more of where you grow up at that make you who you are, it's not racial.

Here's another example. Say that there's an anime character with blue hair. I believe that the blue hair expresses that character's electric attitude, and outstanding personality--that is why the creator picked that color. And you can pretty much tell that many blue haired anime characters have cool (awesome) beings.

So, you can't freaking say that they LOOK WHITE. THAT IS RIDICULOUS!!! ALL white people do not have BLONDE HAIR AND BLUE EYES. All white people don't even have big eyes! And you know what to top all of that? White people aren't even white! I'm not lying, there are Caucasians who are naturally yellow or tan, and there are Japanese who are naturally light-toned. So what is ANYONE suppose to look like?

You are what you are, you are not what you look like is all I'm saying.

Although there are cases in which Asians wish to be Whites, there are also so many cases of Whites wanting to be Asian. I don't consider this to be a trend. I consider it to be an abnormality. There are simply more cases of Asians, I theorize, because there are more Asians in the world than Whites. Asians are much more numerous in the world.

In the US, it seems from my experiences that Asians who wish to be White (or even Black) tend to want to do so not because they hate their own background but because they think it would be cool to fit in. This desire to fit in seems to be confused for self-loathing when self-loathing is, in fact, not the root of the cause but a mere symptom. I can't speak for Whites wanting to be Asian since I do not have as much experience with them but it also seems like they want to do so because they consider the Asian culture they put on a pedestal to be cooler than their own. Culture-envy of sorts, basically, not self-hate.

As long as she has a Japanese heritage, I do not see a problem with her being elected Miss Universe Japan.

That being said, I also do not like the idea of a Miss Any Country. It's simply a beauty contest made more complicated by an additional obvious focus on race. Such a contest seems tired, archaic, and primitive. It is out of place in today's society and I don't fully understand why it is still going on.

All too true.And yes, I honesty think too that beauty pageants are utterly uncalled for. It targets low-self esteem and glorifies certain standards of what an individual is suppose to look like.

I just had a thought. I think the reason for beauty pageants is that it's competition. I mean, we like to compete in all kinds of things. Who's the strongest, weight lifting, or has the best built bodies, Mr. Universe. Who is the fastest, etc. I think this is just like that. Beauty pageants isn't just about who looks the best in a swimsuit, or evening gown. There's intellect, talent, and other qualities that are judged.

We even had the Gong Show. Dancing with The Stars, American Idol, etc, etc, etc. In all of these types of events, there is a panel of judges. The contestants are all competing.

Take the beauty pageants and compare them to the Olympics. National pride is involved with Olympic events, and so too, I think, are beauty pageants. It's not just a competition between contestants, but national pride is on the line, too. I think, in that light, Miss Universe pageants are alright.

What is problematic to me is the, "You're not South African enough", argument....